Developments in English
Developments in English
Merja Kytö, Uppsala Universitet, Sweden
Claudia Claridge, Universität Duisburg–Essen
Jeremy Smith, University of Glasgow
The history of the English language is a vast and diverse area of research. In this volume, a team of leading historians of English come together to analyse 'real' language, drawing on corpus data to shed new light on long-established issues and debates in the field. Combining synchronic and diachronic analysis, the chapters address the major issues in corpus linguistics – methodological, theoretical and applied – and place special focus on the use of electronic resources in the research of English and the wider field of digital humanities. Topics covered include polemical articles on the optimal use of corpus linguistic methods, macro-level patterns of text and discourse organisation, and micro-features such as interjections and hesitators. Covering Englishes from the past and present, this book is designed specifically for graduate students and researchers working in fields of corpus linguistics, the history of the English language, and historical linguistics.
- Provides an up-to-date overview of the developments and use of electronic resources in the linguistic research of English, with broader relevance to the wider field of digital humanities
- Combines synchrony with diachrony, breaking down the 'modern/historical' divide
- Case studies serve as methodological models for further work
Reviews & endorsements
'This book is a treasure trove. Readers interested in varieties of English or their historical development, in corpus methodologies, their application, or theorised interpretations, will all find something of value here.' Susan Hunston, University of Birmingham
'This edited collection breaks new ground in harnessing the methodology of corpus linguistics to historical language studies. There is a coherent theoretical focus to a wide-ranging set of topics, from the changing function of hesitation markers to the unfolding impact of religious prose on written English. The many insights are bound to inform, frame and stimulate further research in data-driven, diachronic linguistics.' John Corbett, University of Macau
Product details
October 2014Adobe eBook Reader
9781316056431
0 pages
0kg
37 b/w illus. 59 tables
This ISBN is for an eBook version which is distributed on our behalf by a third party.
Table of Contents
- 1. English in the digital age. General introduction Irma Taavitsainen, Merja Kytö, Claudia Claridge and Jeremy Smith
- Part I. Linguistic Directions and Crossroads: Mapping the Routes Merja Kytö:
- 2. Corpus-based and corpus-driven approaches to linguistic analysis: one and the same? Charles F. Meyer
- 3. Quantitative corpus approaches to linguistic analysis: seven or eight levels of resolution and the lessons they teach us Stefan Th. Gries
- 4. Profiling the English verb phrase over time: modal patterns Bas Aarts, Sean Wallis and Jill Bowie
- Part II. Changing Patterns Claudia Claridge:
- 5. On the functional change of desire in relation to hope and wish Minoji Akimoto
- 6. From medieval to modern: on the development of the adverbial connective considering (that) Matti Rissanen
- 7. Spoken features of interjections in English dialect (based on Joseph Wright's English Dialect Dictionary) Manfred Markus
- Part III. Pragmatics and Discourse Irma Taavitsainen:
- 8. Interjection-based delocutive verbs in the history of English Laurel J. Brinton
- 9. Uh and um as planners in the Corpus of Historical American English Andreas H. Jucker
- 10. Religious discourse and the history of English Thomas Kohnen
- Part IV. World Englishes Jeremy Smith:
- 11. History, social meaning and identity in the spoken English of postcolonial white Zimbabweans Susan Fitzmaurice
- 12. Singapore weblogs between speech and writing Andrea Sand
- 13. Mergers, losses and the spread of English Raymond Hickey
- 14. Complex systems in the history of American English William A. Kretzschmar, Jr.
